East Wareham Man Sentenced for Role in Drug and Money Laundering Ring

BOSTON – An East Wareham man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for drug charges.

Evan Lopes, 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to three years of probation.  On May 23, 2017, Lopes pleaded guilty to possession of Methylone with intent to distribute. Lopes was the last of four Cape Cod co-defendants to plead guilty to drug and money laundering charges and the third to be sentenced.

On Jan. 15, 2015, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Lopes’ residence where they recovered two kilograms of Methylone from a woodpile on the property. Lopes stashed the drugs for co-defendant David Landry, who, from 2010 to 2014, led a drug and money laundering ring on Cape Cod. Landry was arrested by state authorities in September 2014, but continued to communicate with and direct his drug associates from prison. Landry asked Lopes to store the Methylone at his house in preparation for transferring it to another associate who would sell it for $40,000. 

From May 2014 to January 2015, Landry and another co-defendant, Justin Groom, conspired to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Landry, along with his mother, Diane Johnson, and Groom conspired to launder the drug proceeds in order to disguise the nature of the funds and continue their drug trafficking activities. Landry, a convicted felon, was also found guilty of the constructive possession of a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol.  

Landry and Groom were sentenced in March 2017 to 78 months in prison and two years of probation, respectively. Johnson pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy on May 17, 2017, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 2, 2017.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; Barnstable Police Chief Paul MacDonald; Barnstable County Sheriff James M. Cummings; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Heinrich of Weinreb’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.